


Showtime

by JazzRaft



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: M/M, Multi, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-19
Updated: 2017-03-19
Packaged: 2018-10-08 02:12:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10375548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JazzRaft/pseuds/JazzRaft
Summary: When he glanced over, Noctis’s eyes were hooded, following the taut movements of the two men from beneath heavy lids. There was a particular curve to his smirk; it spoke of something secret, hiding in plain sight.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on [tumblr](http://jazzraft.tumblr.com/post/157374622642/first-thank-you-for-all-the-noctnyx-fics-theyre) for #23 in [this prompt post.](http://jazzraft.tumblr.com/post/156511645930/send-me-a-pairing-and-a-number-and-ill-write-you)

“Just once. _Once_. Could you stop cheating your way out with those warps?”

“Excuse _you_? Since when is a valuable survival asset considered cheating?”

“Since there’s nothing to survive in combat _practice_.”

“You think an MT is gonna extend the same courtesy when it’s not being played by an overgrown, thick-skulled lug-nut guard?”

“Keep shit-talking, glaive, and I might rescind the courtesy myself!”

Everybody seemed used to – and even _comfortable_ – with the violent bickering, except for Prompto. Ignis continued his circuit around the haven, sipping at his coffee and giving their supplies his customary morning check-up. He didn’t flinch once at the volume of the argument, whereas it was like bombshells falling in Prompto’s ears.

He’d had time to adjust to Gladio’s thunderous drawl, but Nyx introduced an entirely new dynamic that Prompto had yet to adjust to. The knight was terrifying – and _gorgeous,_ gods, Noct sure knew how to pick ‘em. He was intimidating without really meaning to be; he was just groomed to impose upon all the King’s enemies, standing like a shadow always half a step behind Noctis. There was a possessive chill to his pewter stare whenever they drove into town, fixing on every stranger that threatened to wander too closely towards the prince.

Prompto was having a difficult time dissociating that cool glare from the barks of laughter ringing around the campfire each night. Once the potential for danger subsided, Nyx unwound from his predatory coil into a rough and amiable companion. He cracked all of the lewd jokes he’d picked up in the Kingsglaive, adopting the four of them as his brothers-in-arms in light of his faction’s corruption and subsequent destruction. He was more content in the night hours, when the rest of them were locking up at the slightest rustle of the breeze through a nearby bush.

That friendliness immediately felt like a dream lost to the midnight hours the second dawn cracked and…

“If you think I can’t kick your ass with no warp and one dagger tied behind my back, you’ve got another thing comin’ pal!”

“Oh, now _there’s_ a sight I’d love to see.”

Prompto crouched beside Noctis where he was lounging upon the stone, observing the morning’s spar like a Saturday morning cartoon. Set back on his elbows, with a crooked knee swaying as lazily as the sprawl of his smirk, he looked every bit as at ease as if he were reclined upon the velvet cushions of the Royal Palace.

“So, um,” Prompto started, trying and failing to see the heated exchange before them as anything other than a homicide waiting to happen. “They’ve really been hitting it off, huh? Literally, anyway.”

He got a distracted hum in reply. When he glanced over, Noctis’s eyes were hooded, following the taut movements of the two men from beneath heavy lids. There was a particular curve to his smirk; it spoke of something secret, hiding in plain sight. The longer Prompto looked at it, and the longer he considered its trajectory towards Gladio and Nyx, the more Prompto felt he recognized the look on the prince’s face.

“Doesn’t bother you at all?” he tested, eyes narrowing as he studied the response.

Noctis shrugged, a slow roll of one shoulder that tilted his head back to admire the view a little better. And he _was_ admiring it, Prompto realized. He hadn’t seen it in a long time, but Prompto remembered the last time he’d seen Noctis like this. It had been along the edges of the Crownsguard’s sparring field, watching a few sets of men and women trade practice blows in the middle of summer. Prompto had pulled Noctis out of a daze then with the same question he posed at him now.

“Gods, _Noct_! You’re totally turned on by this, aren’t you?”

Noctis blinked and his smirk evened into a bemused line. He finally looked at Prompto, who couldn’t resist allowing a smirk of his own to flash across his face. Noctis thought he was so good at hiding it, but the prince’s face always betrayed his true feelings. Maybe it was a little bit cruel of Prompto, but he always enjoyed the light flush of color that appeared on his friend’s cheeks whenever he was caught with his thoughts steaming elsewhere.

“What are you talking about?” he laughed, pushing himself off his elbows to drape one arm over his knee and create a wall between the two of them.

“Come on,” Prompto teased, batting at his shoulder. “You can admit to your best buddie what gets you all hot and bothered.”

“Why do you even need to know that?”

“So, you _are_.”

Noctis ducked his head against the suggestive wiggle of Prompto’s brow, but not before his gaze passed the sparring spot again. Nyx had just warped into Gladio’s back, arms locking around his throat from behind. Gladio lurched forward and flipped the glaive over his head. Nyx’s landing made Prompto wince, but the man just snarled up at Gladio’s grin like the impact of his back on rock was only mildly inconveniencing.

“What, you think you’re better than me?”

“Don’t even need to think about it.”

Gladio chuckled victoriously, and Nyx used his lapse of focus to clap his hands around the back of his heel and pull. Gladio’s leg jerked out in front of him, throwing him off balance and onto his own back.

“ _Ha_! Didn’t even need to warp to do that!”

“It’s still cheating!”

“ _How_?”

Prompto returned his gaze to Noctis, noting the dry swallow that moved his throat as he stared forward. His eyes flitted towards Prompto’s knowing look. He cleared his throat and shifted, straightening his back a little. The change in posture helped put some confidence into his voice.

“So what if you’re right?”

“Hey, you know me. I’m not judging,” Prompto laughed, turning placating palms upward and drawing back to ease the prince’s indignation. “I’m just surprised. All these years together, and I never imagined you as the rough and tough type. Learn something new about you every day, Noct.”

Noctis snorted, running his hand along the back of his neck where a nervous sweat had dampened the thick hair. Nervous or aroused or a mixture of both, Prompto couldn’t quite tell.

“What’s not to like?” Noctis said, falling into the easy rhythm they’d developed since high school.

“I can see what you mean,” Prompto conceded, crossing his ankles beneath him and settling in for a long spar. “Between Gladio’s abs and Nyx’s arms, I get why you might be dreaming of being a Noct sandwich one day. Good luck making it a reality though.”

Noctis sent him a sideways glance, something dark and wicked deepening the blue of his eyes. He cast it back out to the fray, another smirk, even more secretive than the first, curling his lips.

“I think my chances are pretty good.”

That took Prompto aback. Noctis refused to elaborate to any of his follow-up questions, forcing Prompto to cross his arms and watch the fight that had his friend so enthralled. He soon discovered that Noctis didn’t need to tell him what he meant. He found his answers in a series of assorted glances from Gladio and Nyx. Prompto was suddenly acutely aware of where each pair of eyes were positioned after gaining the upper-hand on one another.

Gladio braced his shoulder against one of Nyx’s warp-strikes and sent him rolling back like a soccer ball thrown against a brick wall. It was difficult to see if one wasn’t looking for it, but Gladio’s eyes flickered from his opponent for the most fleeting second. Prompto swore he saw the corner of his mouth jerk into a gratified smirk before Nyx bowled into him again. Using his own weight against him, Nyx managed to pin Gladio to the ground. While he was reeling from the blow, a quick glint of steely eyes stole themselves over to Noctis. They were promptly followed by a shout of laughter in Gladio’s face.

If Nyx had been the one that intimidated Prompto before, the glaive quickly dropped a tier in the list of the most dangerous men he’d ever met. The tone of Noctis’s smile turned absolutely _sinful_ with this new lens Prompto had to view it through.

It was all just a show.

All for the future king.


End file.
